Friday, August 13, 2010

Dear Social Media Class:Through the power of social media I have just learned that a friend-of-a-friend and alum of my alma mater has been working as a journalist in eastern Turkey. He was arrested and put in jail two days ago without charge, probably due to some articles he had written about human rights violations under the Turkish government. He has been denied access to a lawyer and we are all worried about his health and safety.

Please consider emailing the Turkish embassy here, the us embassy in turkey, or your local congress person and asking for his peaceful release. You can also contact me to be added to a list of signatures we are sending to these agencies.

You can also contact you local news agencies to ask that his story be covered. If we raise enough awareness, maybe this won't happen to other journalists trying to write about the truth of what is happening in Kurdistan.

More info here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/how-you-can-help-free-an_b_682022.html